Obama’s poker instincts on view in presidency
The other day I stumbled across a Time magazine piece published back in July 2008, soon after John McCain and Barack Obama had emerged as their parties’ nominees. The premise of the piece was that both men liked to gamble, and that “games of chance have been not just a hobby but also a fundamental feature of their development as people and politicians.”
McCain, for example, loves to play craps, which the piece describes as “a game for showmen, Hollywood stars and basketball legends with girls on their arms.” Dice in hand, money on the table, a crowd gathered along the rails to cheer him on, a craps player basks in attention and adrenalin.
“For McCain, jaunts to the craps table helped burnish his image as a political hot dog who relishes the thrill of a good fight,” the Time piece notes, “even if the risk of failure was high.”
I’m usually wary of pieces that attempt to psycho-analyze candidates, especially when viewed through a single lens such as their choice of gambling outlets. But in hindsight, McCain’s subsequent behavior validated the Time thesis. A few weeks after the piece appeared, he rolled the dice in a high-stakes gamble on Sarah Palin, and did so again when he announced that he was suspending his campaign to rush back to Washington to save the American economy. Neither gamble paid off, but they were consistent with his personality.
Obama, on the other hand, is a poker player by nature. As an Illinois state senator, he was a regular in a weekly late-night poker game among lobbyists and fellow legislators. Interviewing other regulars in those games, the Time reporters found that Obama had a reputation as a conservative player. He’d fold losing hands quickly, but if he chose to stay in the game, it usually meant he had calculated the odds and was in it to win. Rather than force things, he patiently let the game come to him:
“The stakes were low enough — $1 ante and $3 top raise — to afford a long shot. Not Obama. He studied the cards as closely as an 11th-hour amendment to a bill. The odds were religion to him. Only rarely did he bluff….”
Obama’s play-to-win approach drove other players crazy. Former state Sen. Larry Walsh, a conservative corn farmer from Joliet, once got ready to pull in a pot with a four-of-a-kind hand. But Obama had four of a kind too, of higher rank. Walsh slammed down his cards. “Doggone it, Barack, if you were more liberal in your card-playing and more conservative in your politics, you and I would get along much better,” he said.
In hindsight, that also seems to have been prescient. As president, Obama has tended to abandon losing hands quickly, often to the frustration of liberal supporters who want to see him fight it out. However, when he draws a strong hand, the last few years have proved that he plays it well and reaps maximum advantage from it.
– Jay Bookman
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893 comments Add your comment
JamVet - There are three types of AmVets, the good, the bad and the ugly.
February 27th, 2012
5:06 pm
Flat-lined wages for forty years for an overwhelming percentage of American workers and you suddenly fiscal cons are obsessing over the results of the past three years only.
Alriiiiighty then…
Brosephus™
February 27th, 2012
5:07 pm
where is your logic……….. you can’t say that obese are that way because of the fat they carry……. only an illogical liberal could come up with that…….
they get obese for eating too many calories and not exercising and burning more calories than they eat
Yet, when I asked you how Obama added $5 Trillion to the debt, your answer was “the paper trail is the DEBT”. Now, do you really wanna question MY logic?
Common Sense isn't very Common - Papist Independent
February 27th, 2012
5:08 pm
Logic is for sissies
Vo mitt 2012
pogo
February 27th, 2012
5:10 pm
Amvet, have your heard the one about Obama’s cutting healthcare benefits by raising premiums for soldiers that have served and are serving? Meanwhile, he leaves the public service union employees premiums alone. Another words, if you you are out there dodging bullets you will pay more and if you are out there pushing paper you will not. Something seems wrong with that, doesn’t it?
Thulsa Doom
February 27th, 2012
5:10 pm
Unless you’ve only been in the market for a few years you have no idea that you are basically just getting back what you lost several years ago and then some. One would have to be a very new investor who only started investing a few years ago or someone who says they’ve had a portfolio for a long time and is exaggerating their portfolio or just outright lying and forgetting about how stocks had been down.
carlosgvv
February 27th, 2012
5:11 pm
Finn McCool – 4:17
I can see you haven’t had many dealings with the Govt. Apparently, you are just another school boy trying to play grownup here. Please finish high school, and get at least some college before posting here again.
Fred ™
February 27th, 2012
5:13 pm
pogo
February 27th, 2012
5:10 pm
Amvet, have your heard the one about Obama’s cutting healthcare benefits by raising premiums for soldiers that have served and are serving? Meanwhile, he leaves the public service union employees premiums alone. Another words, if you you are out there dodging bullets you will pay more and if you are out there pushing paper you will not. Something seems wrong with that, doesn’t it?
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Do you have some sort of source you can site other than ‘Rush said it on his show today?”
Proud to be me!
February 27th, 2012
5:15 pm
Obama is NOT a smart man; he’s a snake in the grass! He has lied repeatedly and is campaigning on taxpayers’ dollars rather than leading this country. He only wants the title, President, he had no clue what that entails. The fact that this country elected someone with NO experience except a Senator who voted absent the majority of time and a “community” organizer tells me this country (as is proven by some of the comments on this blogs) a lost cause!
USMC
February 27th, 2012
5:16 pm
Rush Limbaugh told us today that President Obama is planningb on raising healthcare costs on Veterans and Active Duty Military personnel. LOL!
Just thought you should know!
Jay
February 27th, 2012
5:16 pm
Of course, Thulsa overlooks the fact that according to the bipartisan and well-respected Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, the tax and budget proposals put forward by Romney, Gingrich and Santorum would be significantly worse for the debt than the Obama plan.
The CRFB projects that under realistic assumptions, the debt-to-GDP ratio in 2021 would be 86 percent under Obama’s plan. It would be 96 percent under Romney, 104 percent under Santorum and 114 percent under Gingrich.
For Ron Paul, it would still be 76 percent, which tells you how much of this problem is already baked into the system.
Thomas
February 27th, 2012
5:18 pm
Thulsa- this is when the brokers are great at saying “your portolio gained 20%”. 100 down 55% is 45%. $45*1.2= $54. anyway
Public markets are forever broken. We need folks grabbing SBAs and starting businesses.
Obama is over
February 27th, 2012
5:19 pm
Bro:
Regardless of where the debt came from, the insulting part is that Obama has no realistic plan on how to address it. He only proposes spending even more money on whatever the latest poll might register for undecided voters. His tax plan released last week stands NO chance of ever passing. Do you really think that increasing the dividend tax to 60+% would ever fly? Yeh, let’s go ahead and really stick it to retirees, widows, and orphans who rely on investment income for retirement. Warren Buffet isn’t the only stock holder in the country. Another nice proposal is making municipal bonds taxable. Nice way to raise interest expense for the construction of roads, schools , and bridgesand penalize States that have maintained fiscal discipline. Of course if you are Pelosi or Obama, you want to centralize municipal finance in Washington so you can bail out Illinois and California, maintain above market union contracts, and make the rest of the country pay for you to spread a little cash for your homies. Constantly blaming Bush and only looking backwards is not going to solve the problems facing our country. The bottom line is that Obama has been running $trillion deficits every year he has been in office and his spending has been the highest per centage of GDP since 1946. Even if he gets all of his tax increases, his plan claims to collect $1.3 Trillion over ten years, yet he calls for increased spending again for 2012. So if he continues his course of annual $trillion deficits over four more years to be offset by $1.3 T in new “revenues” over ten, even you can do the math. Of course, this is all before Obamacare kicks in. His plan calls for 4% GDP growth this year. Reality is closer to 2% assuming that there is not a global meltdown starting in Europe. All we get from this guy is gross generalizations with no specifics. Obama does not understand systematic growth. He wants big government to write all of the checks so that he can have a source of power to negotiate with. He may be a good poker player, but at some point some one is going to call his bluff on specifics of his economic policies and he will have to fold because he simply does not have a very strong hand.
Billybob
February 27th, 2012
5:20 pm
has that thrill up your leg left since you had it when you were writing this intellectually bankrupt post……….this is funny and sad even for you bookman……..keep hanging on brutha’
FYI, on you last post bookman…..
obama equating gov’t redistribution/socialism with ‘what jesus would do’ makes me want to throw up and yet i have not heard you come out against his comments….jesus would want people to help each other, but not at the point of an authoritarian gov’t taking and forcing one person to help another that the ‘gov’t’ deems deserves it…….this highlights an enormous fundamental difference b/t leftists’ libs and conservatives……let the media keep talking/bringing up social issues……how about this one jaylib…….conservatives fight for life for all and hussein votes in Illinois senate in favor of abortion and then infanticide….. which means if the baby wasn’t killed during the abortion you need to bring in another doctor to finish the killing of that baby……on both of these social issues i think the overwhelming majority of the public is with my and the conservative view……enjoy the wwc smackdown in nov jaylib?
They BOTH suck
February 27th, 2012
5:21 pm
Proud to be me: make everyone proud, stop spouting talking pts and do some research
It took all of 30 seconds to prove your post to be untrue in terms of Obama’s record as a US and State Senator
Tell Boortz, Hanitty or whomever they need to brainwash you with some more viable talking pts that are not so easily debunked
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2010/feb/08/sarah-palin/palin-says-obama-voted-present-us-senate-very-ofte/
http://factcheck.org/2008/09/obamas-legislative-record/
JamVet - There are three types of AmVets, the good, the bad and the ugly.
February 27th, 2012
5:22 pm
pogo, I thought that was old news.
I also thought that it was simply an idea that was floated and never saw the light of day, even as a recommendation, from the Obama administration.
Has it resurfaced again?
Or is it the cowardly, troop-denigrating Rush Limbo up to his old tricks?
josef
February 27th, 2012
5:24 pm
JAY
So, I assume the weekend was what y’all wanted it to be…
*******
Obama the poker player…I hadn’t thought of it that way, but, yeah that’s the way he plays things…
*******
So, over 400 in, what’s the nyanh-nyanh of the day?
Billybob
February 27th, 2012
5:26 pm
hussein’s bluff will be called by independent and moderate dem voters and the poker game he has been playing since he became prez will bust…….this was a great analogy of how hussein has no idea what he is doing so he is guessing on things based on the odds and poker…..very enlightening for all to see hear mr. bookman……please keep talking you leftist ideology and even the ‘typical white woman’ will not vote for obama in nov…….this is fun
Jm
February 27th, 2012
5:26 pm
Bro fine let’s pretend it’s only $2T
The fact is our deficit is unsustainable and must be fixed and Obama has made it worse versus autopilot
Mitt Romney 2012
Thulsa Doom
February 27th, 2012
5:26 pm
Jay,
How nice it would be if we could actually see into the future and actually prove that. We can’t. And I doubt that the study you cite mentions the fact that under a Romney or a Repub we would probably experience substantially higher, faster growth than under the O man. I would trust a man who actually has made a living in the private sector and who actually understands the economy such as Romney before I would trust a community organizer. And as I understand it Romney balanced budgets in Massachussetts. So how many budgets has Obama balanced? Crickets chirping….
As for Gingrich he presided over a balanced budget as speaker. How quickly we forget huh Jay? Just the facts sir.
Common Sense isn't very Common - Papist Independent
February 27th, 2012
5:27 pm
Josef – someone has decided Bro is ignorant – I figure what the heck go you expect from an angry white guy in Ga that works for the Fed. Gov’t
Thulsa Doom
February 27th, 2012
5:28 pm
I’ll take one of the 2 R candidates who has actually presided over balanced budgets thank you!
They BOTH suck
February 27th, 2012
5:29 pm
TD
The budget in Mass must be balanced…. It is the law
So the Dems before and after him… did the same
Nice try
josef
February 27th, 2012
5:30 pm
Common Sense (and love that Papist Independent tag
)
Hey, you plays the cards thass dealt you…
Common Sense isn't very Common - Papist Independent
February 27th, 2012
5:30 pm
TD – Vo mitt 2012? or the fat rat?
Jay
February 27th, 2012
5:30 pm
In other words, Thulsa, you can’t refute the accuracy of my numbers so you pretend they don’t matter.
Recon 0311 2533
February 27th, 2012
5:30 pm
On the Obama administrations plan to raise heath care costs for Veterans and other travesties aimed at veterans check out the VFW’s response. The all volunteer military will be something of the past.
JamVet - There are three types of AmVets, the good, the bad and the ugly.
February 27th, 2012
5:31 pm
I just don’t understand posts like that second 5:24.
Nearly half of the Republican voters don’t like any of their candidates this time around.
The last time around, they got pummeled.
They have a relatively tiny amount of support among all American minorities.
Their last president/administration was an unmitigated nightmare of a failure.
They have taken it on the chin week after week after week over the past year and yet they act like they are the 2000 New York Yankees.
Very strange…
They BOTH suck
February 27th, 2012
5:32 pm
TD
With that said, Mitt could have the ability to work with Congress to do what he was mandated to do by law in Mass.
His proposed plan doesn’t show that, but who knows
Thulsa Doom
February 27th, 2012
5:32 pm
Or is it the cowardly, troop-denigrating Rush Limbo up to his old tricks?
jamvet,
That fat guy denigrated troops? Now I know the phony soldier story was proven to be completely false and some congressmen went on the floor of the house to apologize to limbaugh for the falsehood of that story but I didn’t know the man denigrated the troops in other fashion. What did he do?
JamVet - There are three types of AmVets, the good, the bad and the ugly.
February 27th, 2012
5:32 pm
Oops, make that the first 5;26…
Recon 0311 2533
February 27th, 2012
5:34 pm
http://www.vfw.org/News-and-Events/Articles/2012-Articles/JOIN-THE-FIGHT!/
Thulsa Doom
February 27th, 2012
5:34 pm
They both suck,
I think he would work with the Ds thought to get it done. He did it in one of the most liberal states in the union. No reason he can’t do it as potus. And I think the business community would be excited to see a pro America president.
pogo
February 27th, 2012
5:36 pm
And Jay’s slobbering love affair with Obama continues. Objective journalism in America is dead. And Jay, the number for Romney is actually 81%, well below Obama’s 86%. Did you even look at the website before you said this?
JamVet - There are three types of AmVets, the good, the bad and the ugly.
February 27th, 2012
5:36 pm
I know the phony soldier story was proven to be completely false…
Really?
I’d LOVE to see that proof, Doom.
As I’ve seen his actual quote, calling them that…
They BOTH suck
February 27th, 2012
5:40 pm
TD
“pro America president.”
As opposed to who? You have read my posts where I have ripped Bush, Republicans and even some Dems, but I’m not into calling any POTUS anti American or whatever…………
I will debate and argue until I’m blue in the face about policy and actions, however I’m not one to use that terminology
Regardless of which side, it does nothing for either us when discussing issues
Thulsa Doom
February 27th, 2012
5:41 pm
Jay,
I don’t refute them at all. But they are simply projections. They can’t tell you what would really happen- just someone’s opinions based on the plans given. And I seriously doubt they factor in increased economic growth and thus increased govt tax receipts that we would have under a pro growth president such as a Romney.I give their accuracy about the same accuracy as I give the Obama administration on projected economic growth numbers.
Or better yet I’ll give them the same odds of projected accuracy as I do of some computer models trying to predict the exact temperatures 50 years from now using all sorts of variables. Ya’ll must be living in liberal fantasyland again. Bring me back one a them delicious chocolately unicorns when you wake up and come back to earth.
They BOTH suck
February 27th, 2012
5:44 pm
Recon @ 5:34
I could not get your link to come up. Please check it and submit again
Thanks
josef
February 27th, 2012
5:46 pm
THULSA
Forget all them figures…the Romany Lady is more reliable, imuo…
Common Sense isn't very Common - Papist Independent
February 27th, 2012
5:47 pm
TD I think the Dems were in the majority in Mass. If the congress doesn’t have a large majority of Dems I don’t see how that means shyte.
Why compromise when he doesn’t have to?
Jay
February 27th, 2012
5:47 pm
“I don’t refute them at all. But they are simply projections. They can’t tell you what would really happen — just someone’s opinions based on the plans given. “
How odd then, Thulsa, that you didn’t dismiss the CBO numbers that you cited so excitedly as “simply projections” that may or may not be true. No, those numbers you treated as holy writ somehow.
Adam
February 27th, 2012
5:48 pm
Jm: If the pols and government are incompetent (they are), at least the republicans support having less of the insanity
HAAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAAHHAHA
Oh man, I needed a good laugh. Less of the insanity indeed!
HAHAHHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Paul
February 27th, 2012
5:52 pm
Thulsa
You may want to watch the video presentation. It’s a very good cost analysis. Assumptions are detailed, variables are explained, unknowns are discussed. Of course they’re projections. But it’s how the projections are calculated that makes all the difference.
It’s like your accountant saying “if we make the following assumptions about your income, expenses and most likely law changes your taxes next year will be in the range of N-Y.” One wouldn’t say to the accountant “heck those are just projections so I’m not going to adjust my quarterly payments.”
Well, maybe some would. But you get the point.
Joe Hussein Mama
February 27th, 2012
5:53 pm
Recon — “On the Obama administrations plan to raise heath care costs for Veterans and other travesties aimed at veterans check out the VFW’s response.”
I wish I had the choice of paying higher costs for VA care. President Bush kicked me and lots of other disabled veterans right off the VA’s rolls.
Brosephus™
February 27th, 2012
5:55 pm
Obama is over: Regardless of where the debt came from, the insulting part is that Obama has no realistic plan on how to address it.
And those campaigning to replace Obama have all put forth ideas that would continue to add to the debt. Yet people cheer them on. So what’s the true motivation, because it’s obviously not debt reduction?
————————–
jm: Bro fine let’s pretend it’s only $2T
I didn’t say it was only $2T. My question still stands, where did the $5 trillion come from? Your response thus far has been the only attempt by anybody to quantify that amount. Everybody else is just taking it as the gospel truth with no accompanying facts. If I did my job based on popular opinion instead of facts, I wouldn’t last a week. That’s why I prefer to deal with facts only.
Joe Hussein Mama
February 27th, 2012
5:55 pm
Doom — ” I didn’t know the man denigrated the troops in other fashion. What did he do?”
Google Rush and “phony soldiers.” You’ll find plenty.
josef
February 27th, 2012
5:56 pm
jm
Not out to paint all Republicans with the same broad brush, but given what they’re putting up as contenders, I can’t think of a time in our history when such a lot of loonies were put up for political view…there’s not but one in the show who might remotely qualify as rational and he’s so out of touch with the common man as to be a liability
josef
February 27th, 2012
5:58 pm
PAUL
Mojo pork with black beans and rice and salsa verde…life is good…
Thulsa Doom
February 27th, 2012
6:01 pm
Jamvet,
You gotta do a better job to get the fat man. Its a bogus story where media matters tried to twist what limbaugh said in an effort to smear the man. And quite frankly even if what media matters version of what happened even were true it would pale in comparison to John Kerry’s lies about personal knowledge of American soldiers raping, killing in a fashion reminiscent of ghengis kahn. When it comes to putting down American soldiers the fat man don’t hold a candle compared to Kerry.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phony_soldiers_controversy
Paul
February 27th, 2012
6:01 pm
josef
That’s good eating. I’ve done a Bobby Flay version a couple of times, modified it a bit each time.
One of these days I’ll learn to write down my mods!
Thulsa Doom
February 27th, 2012
6:03 pm
Joe Mama,
Yes. I found plenty of bull and read the whole transcript for the last 15 minutes. The minute media matters put the story out you just knew it had to be a lot of bullspit. And it was.
Joe Hussein Mama
February 27th, 2012
6:04 pm
Doom — “John Kerry’s lies about personal knowledge of American soldiers raping, killing in a fashion reminiscent of ghengis kahn.”
Substantiate, please.
josef
February 27th, 2012
6:04 pm
THULSA
Quick question…how old were you during Vietnam? Not snarky, just wondering.
They BOTH suck
February 27th, 2012
6:04 pm
“When it comes to putting down American soldiers the fat man don’t hold a candle compared to Kerry.”
He sure doesn’t because we know they were both of age to have served in Vietnam and one of the two didn’t
Discussion OVER
Thulsa Doom
February 27th, 2012
6:06 pm
Paul,
I hear ya. When I get time I probably will read over their plans in more detail.
They BOTH suck
February 27th, 2012
6:06 pm
LIMBAUGH: Mike in Chicago, welcome to the EIB Network. Hello.
CALLER 1: Hi Rush, how you doing today?
LIMBAUGH: I’m fine sir, thank you.
CALLER 1: Good. Why is it that you always just accuse the Democrats of being against the war and suggest that there are absolutely no Republicans that could possibly be against the war?
LIMBAUGH: Well, who are these Republicans? I can think of Chuck Hagel, and I can think of Gordon Smith, two Republican senators, but they don’t want to lose the war like the Democrats do. I can’t think of — who are the Republicans in the anti-war movement?
CALLER 1: I’m just — I’m not talking about the senators. I’m talking about the general public — like you accuse the public of all the Democrats of being, you know, wanting to lose, but –
LIMBAUGH: Oh, come on! Here we go again. I uttered a truth, and you can’t handle it, so you gotta call here and change the subject. How come I’m not also hitting Republicans? I don’t know a single Republican or conservative, Mike, who wants to pull out of Iraq in defeat. The Democrats have made the last four years about that specifically.
CALLER 1: Well, I am a Republican, and I’ve listened to you for a long time, and you’re right on a lot of things, but I do believe that we should pull out of Iraq. I don’t think it’s winnable. And I’m not a Democrat, but I just — sometimes you’ve got to cut the losses.
LIMBAUGH: Well, you — you –
CALLER 1: I mean, sometimes you really gotta know when you’re wrong.
LIMBAUGH: Well, yeah, you do. I’m not wrong on this. The worst thing that can happen is losing this, flying out of there, waving the white flag. Do you have –
CALLER 1: Oh, I’m not saying that. I’m not saying anything like that, but, you know –
LIMBAUGH: Well, of course you are.
CALLER 1: No, I’m not.
LIMBAUGH: Bill, the truth is — the truth is the truth, Mike.
CALLER 1: We did what we were supposed to do, OK. We got rid of Saddam Hussein. We got rid of a lot of the terrorists. Let them run their country –
LIMBAUGH: Oh, good lord! Good lord.
[...]
CALLER 1: How long is it gonna — how long do you think we’re going to have to be there for them to take care of that?
LIMBAUGH: Mike –
CALLER 1: How long — you know — what is it?
LIMBAUGH: Mike –
CALLER 1: What is it?
LIMBAUGH: Mike, you can’t possibly be a Republican.
CALLER 1: I am.
LIMBAUGH: You are — you are –
CALLER 1: I am definitely a Republican.
LIMBAUGH: You can’t be a Republican. You are –
CALLER 1: Oh, I am definitely a Republican.
LIMBAUGH: You are tarnishing the reputation, ’cause you sound just like a Democrat.
CALLER 1: No, but –
LIMBAUGH: The answer to your question –
CALLER 1: — seriously, how long do we have to stay there –
LIMBAUGH: As long as it takes!
CALLER 1: — to win it? How long?
LIMBAUGH: As long as it takes! It is very serious.
CALLER 1: And that is what?
LIMBAUGH: This is the United States of America at war with Islamofascists. We stay as long — just like your job. You do everything you have to do, whatever it takes to get it done, if you take it seriously.
CALLER 1: So then you say we need to stay there forever –
LIMBAUGH: I — it won’t –
CALLER 1: — because that’s what it’ll take.
LIMBAUGH: No, Bill, or Mike — I’m sorry. I’m confusing you with the guy from Texas.
CALLER 1: See, I — I’ve used to be military, OK? And I am a Republican.
LIMBAUGH: Yeah. Yeah.
CALLER 1: And I do live [inaudible] but –
LIMBAUGH: Right. Right. Right, I know.
CALLER 1: — you know, really — I want you to be saying how long it’s gonna take.
LIMBAUGH: And I, by the way, used to walk on the moon!
CALLER 1: How long do we have to stay there?
LIMBAUGH: You’re not listening to what I say. You can’t possibly be a Republican. I’m answering every question. That’s not what you want to hear, so it’s not even penetrating your little wall of armor you’ve got built up.
[...]
LIMBAUGH: Another Mike, this one in Olympia, Washington. Welcome to the EIB Network. Hello.
CALLER 2: Hi Rush, thanks for taking my call.
LIMBAUGH: You bet.
CALLER 2: I have a retort to Mike in Chicago, because I am a serving American military, in the Army. I’ve been serving for 14 years, very proudly.
LIMBAUGH: Thank you, sir.
CALLER 2: And, you know, I’m one of the few that joined the Army to serve my country, I’m proud to say, not for the money or anything like that. What I would like to retort to is that, if we pull — what these people don’t understand is if we pull out of Iraq right now, which is about impossible because of all the stuff that’s over there, it’d take us at least a year to pull everything back out of Iraq, then Iraq itself would collapse, and we’d have to go right back over there within a year or so. And –
LIMBAUGH: There’s a lot more than that that they don’t understand. They can’t even — if — the next guy that calls here, I’m gonna ask him: Why should we pull — what is the imperative for pulling out? What’s in it for the United States to pull out? They can’t — I don’t think they have an answer for that other than, “Well, we just gotta bring the troops home.”
CALLER 2: Yeah, and, you know what –
LIMBAUGH: “Save the — keep the troops safe” or whatever. I — it’s not possible, intellectually, to follow these people.
CALLER 2: No, it’s not, and what’s really funny is, they never talk to real soldiers. They like to pull these soldiers that come up out of the blue and talk to the media.
LIMBAUGH: The phony soldiers.
CALLER 2: The phony soldiers. If you talk to a real soldier, they are proud to serve. They want to be over in Iraq. They understand their sacrifice, and they’re willing to sacrifice for their country.
LIMBAUGH: They joined to be in Iraq. They joined –
CALLER 2: A lot of them — the new kids, yeah.
LIMBAUGH: Well, you know where you’re going these days, the last four years, if you signed up. The odds are you’re going there or Afghanistan or somewhere.
CALLER 2: Exactly, sir.
USMC
February 27th, 2012
6:09 pm
@They BOTH suck 6:06
You forgot the “MEGA DITTOS, RUSH!” part… LOL!
Mr_B
February 27th, 2012
6:10 pm
Fred: “So what ever happened to DaveR? Did he turn in to jm? I saw two boobs on here Sunday so I know she can post here again………”
Had a quick exchange with @@ Saturday and she swore she wouldn’t be back. I kinda miss her here.
DaveR is working Kyle’s blog as “Tiberius, Your Lightning Rod of Hate.” Don’t miss him in the least.
BTW: Belated congrats Jay and Mrs. Jay.
josef
February 27th, 2012
6:10 pm
BOTH
I think the Imam has a rule against posting pornography…
They BOTH suck
February 27th, 2012
6:10 pm
USMC
My bad…….. Actually I think Rush is pretty funny, as well as Boortz. Hanitty is tired…
Joe Hussein Mama
February 27th, 2012
6:11 pm
USMC — “You forgot the “MEGA DITTOS, RUSH!” part… LOL!”
These days, I’m inclined to offer “ottids.”
Don’t know if Rush has mentioned that at any time in the last few years, but it used to come up once or twice a week back in the late 80s and early 90s on his show.
barking frog
February 27th, 2012
6:12 pm
Romney/Rubio won’t be a poker game,
It will be a horse race.
Thulsa Doom
February 27th, 2012
6:12 pm
Joe Mama,
Here ya go. Enjoying reading about the POS.
“They told the stories at times they had personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, taped wires from portable telephones to human genitals and turned up the power, cut off limbs, blown up bodies, randomly shot at civilians, razed villages in fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan, shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned food stocks, and generally ravaged the countryside of South Vietnam in addition to the normal ravage of war, and the normal and very particular ravaging which is done by the applied bombing power of this country.”
Matter of fact you can read his whole BS testimony to Congress about all these acts which he alleges to have happened.
https://facultystaff.richmond.edu/~ebolt/history398/JohnKerryTestimony.html
kayaker 71
February 27th, 2012
6:12 pm
Most good poker players know how to make good decisions. I think that that four of a kind was a lucky draw. Time Magazine? Another liberal poop sheet intent on getting this clown re-elected. Now is the Heritage Foundation had published this story……
Paul
February 27th, 2012
6:13 pm
Both suck
So anyone who says they’re a Republican who disagrees with Rush is really a Democrat.
Vacuous. Completely vacuous.
They BOTH suck
February 27th, 2012
6:13 pm
josef
Hopefully I get a pass
Are your black beans from a can or did you slow cook them?
I cook them in a crock pot with a hamhock….. Of course when measures call for quick eats….. Goyas always work
They BOTH suck
February 27th, 2012
6:14 pm
“Both suck
So anyone who says they’re a Republican who disagrees with Rush is really a Democrat.
Vacuous. Completely vacuous.”
Huh???
josef
February 27th, 2012
6:14 pm
BOTH
Yeah, Rush and Boortz are pretty funny…but remember, looks ain’t everything…
Seriously, though, if you put their two brains in a pig, it would root with its a33. Arrogant little snits we used to beat up on the kindergarten playground and they never got over it…
Joe Hussein Mama
February 27th, 2012
6:15 pm
Thanks for walking into the trap, Doom. I’ve already read that speech many times, and it doesn’t say what you claim.
You accused Kerry of having “personal knowledge” of those atrocities. That speech makes it *very clear* that he’s relating stories he was *told* and which he *heard,* related by other soldiers. He doesn’t claim personal knowledge of those atrocities at any time during that speech.
Try again. Substantiate your claim that Kerry has *personal knowledge* of those sorts of atrocities, please.
They BOTH suck
February 27th, 2012
6:15 pm
JHM
You notice how TD flipped the script to Kerry from Rush
Guess he think no one noticed
Common Sense isn't very Common - Papist Independent
February 27th, 2012
6:17 pm
Put Rush, Boortz and Gingrich at a table with one rack of ribs and see who dies?
Who is the winner?
We are
Thulsa Doom
February 27th, 2012
6:18 pm
They both suck,
Limbaugh was referencing that guy who was a protestor at some leftwing events and when they investigated they found out this guy had been in the army 44 days, got booted out, was never in Iraq, basically a phony soldier who never really served. That’s who Limbaugh was referencing. And so they build up this whole thing over him remarking over some guy who never served but showed up at some anti-war rallies talking about a bogus service and they try to make Limbaugh out to be the bad guy. Completely bogus story. Weak too.
Redneck Convert (R--and proud of it)
February 27th, 2012
6:18 pm
Well, if I’m in the market for insurance I want a shyster like Doom to deal with, not the guvmint. I mean, there’s a reason car cos. don’t put a flat price on a car. Some of us just like jawing about price and such and seeing who can cheat who the most. I want Doom to write a policy that will cover my pile-on cyst but not charge me extra for it. And I don’t want to have to pay for somebody else’s birth control. I mean, if the good Lord wanted you to have free birth control, you would of been born with one of them rubber thingies on your You-Know-What.
Anyhow, I sure hope they don’t put off this race again. It takes alot of sacrifice to give up Fox News and my Talking Points to watch a race. Have a good night everybody.
josef
February 27th, 2012
6:19 pm
BOTH SUCK
This was Unmentionable’s cooking…beans you didn’t soak the f*rts out of, sheer heresy! I’m with you on the Goyas….It depends on what he’s going to do with the black beans as to how he cooks them. Tonight’s had the ham hock thrown in for the slow cooking.
Joe Hussein Mama
February 27th, 2012
6:19 pm
TBS — “You notice how TD flipped the script to Kerry from Rush”
I also notice that he quoted the part of the speech in which Kerry makes it plain that he’s relating what others have said, not making claims of first-hand personal knowledge.
Guess he didn’t think anyone would notice that, either.
Paul
February 27th, 2012
6:20 pm
Both suck
That transcript of Rush’s conversation. Guy says he’s a Republican, disagrees with Rush over Iraq, so Rush’s answer is not to debate the merits of the case but dismiss they guy by saying “you can’t be a Republican, for I am the Arbiter of Truth and the Determiner of All Things Republican. You have to be a Democrat.”
And that is devoid of any intelligence or reasoning.
Except to keep the gullible listening and the advertisers paying.
Joe Hussein Mama
February 27th, 2012
6:20 pm
Doom — ” this guy had been in the army 44 days, got booted out”
That still makes him more of a soldier than Rush Limbaugh ever was.
USMC
February 27th, 2012
6:21 pm
“My bad…….. Actually I think Rush is pretty funny, as well as Boortz. Hanitty is tired…”–They Both suck
I do too. I was just being a Smart Aleck!
USMC
February 27th, 2012
6:23 pm
“That still makes him more of a soldier than Rush Limbaugh ever was.”–JoeObama Sniffer
You forgot to add JAY BOOKMAN!
They BOTH suck
February 27th, 2012
6:24 pm
TD
Rush is an entertainer selling propaganda as news…….. He is the best at it and is paid accordingly… The Barnum and Bailey of talk radio………….. If you like him great, but it is funny you seem to give him a pass on Vietnam, yet want to call out Kerry
I have never been in the military; however my dad is a retired Lt Col who served three tours in Vietnam……. He didn’t vote for him, but told me when the BS about him came up……..
“Whatever happened, happened… He put his boots in that jungle and many of those talking about him who didn’t serve and could have, are nothing more than fake a$$ patriots”
Thomas
February 27th, 2012
6:24 pm
Will there be a time when the far left agrees that MSNBC, CNN, etc. are as bad as Fox and Limbaugh?
Really, my horrendously biased media sources are good because I agree with them philosophically, really?
Fred ™
February 27th, 2012
6:24 pm
Proud to be me!
February 27th, 2012
5:15 pm
Obama is NOT a smart man; he’s a snake in the grass! He has lied repeatedly and is campaigning on taxpayers’ dollars rather than leading this country. He only wants the title, President, he had no clue what that entails. The fact that this country elected someone with NO experience except a Senator who voted absent the majority of time and a “community” organizer tells me this country (as is proven by some of the comments on this blogs) a lost cause!
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Wow, there have been some SEVERELY stupid people post today. The hate level is high and the truth level is extra low.
http://www.imagepoop.com/image/1889/I-See-Stupid-People.html
They BOTH suck
February 27th, 2012
6:24 pm
Paul
Got you………… Thanks
Thulsa Doom
February 27th, 2012
6:26 pm
They both suck,
I mentioned Kerry because even if what Rush alleged to have said was true it pales in comparison to what Kerry said. Not even close.
They BOTH suck
February 27th, 2012
6:26 pm
josef @ 6:19
All I can say is enjoy and I’m a little jealous……….
josef
February 27th, 2012
6:29 pm
THOMAS
“Will there be a time when the far left agrees that MSNBC, CNN, etc. are as bad as Fox and Limbaugh? ”
I’m a leftie. I will agree with you on MSNBC, but not on CNN and I’m not sure who you are including in your etc.
Paul
February 27th, 2012
6:32 pm
Thomas
Last little while I’ve been tuning into Morning Joe on MSNBC. I’ve seen Christie, Huntsman and a score of other interesting personalities and seen conservatives and liberals at the round table have some pretty darn good point-counterpoints accompanied by a lot of choking and “oh cr@p, they just blew a hole in my argument” expressions.
Don’t know if it’s representative of MSNBC but it’s a pretty good show for highlighting opposing political views, so far.
Joe Hussein Mama
February 27th, 2012
6:34 pm
USMC — “You forgot to add JAY BOOKMAN!”
Is Jay dissing anyone who volunteered, or was that just Rush?
josef
February 27th, 2012
6:36 pm
PAUL
Morning Joe is not representative of MSNBC.
F. Sinkwich
February 27th, 2012
6:36 pm
“I’m a leftie. I will agree with you on MSNBC, but not on CNN and I’m not sure who you are including in your etc.”
How about ABC, NBC, CBS, CNBC, NPR, etc., plus the dinosaur print media like NYT, WaPo, USAToday, AJC and so forth?
Lib ilks all.
Joe Hussein Mama
February 27th, 2012
6:37 pm
Okay, I’m out. Wife’s complaining about the car making a funny noise. She probably didn’t fasten her seat belt or close the door or something.
All be well and drive safely.
F. Sinkwich
February 27th, 2012
6:42 pm
“Last little while I’ve been tuning into Morning Joe on MSNBC.”
Yo, Paul, MSNBC is the lib ilk propaganda go to network.
Fortunately, no one watches it except losers, i.e, O’bozo voters.
F. Sinkwich
February 27th, 2012
6:45 pm
“Okay, I’m out. Wife’s complaining about the car making a funny noise.”
Joe, next time don’t buy your wife a POS Volt, unless of course you hate her.
Paul
February 27th, 2012
6:45 pm
josef
thanks. May be not representative, but I enjoy it in its own right.
Sinkwich
Scarborough appears to be a pretty conservative Republican. Interesting you think he appeals only to losers and Obama voters.
You need to expand your mind, Sink.
josef
February 27th, 2012
6:49 pm
ABC, NBC, CBS…pretty mild mainstream; don’t watch CNBC, NPR decidedly left and often bordering on the lunatic fringe, NYT, traditionally liberal with a fairly wide range of commentators, WaPo, don’t pay enough attention to them to pass judgment, USAToday? Say what? The Reader’s Digest of the daily press, AJC? I don’t know whether or not the local fishwrapper from an overgrown crossroads trading village should be included in the etc. or not, but all-in-all it has a centrist staff of columnists and commentators and even its liberal element is orthodox conservative on some issues…
They BOTH suck
February 27th, 2012
6:50 pm
Paul
Joe is a pretty interesting guy. Read an article about him in Men’s Journal. He was a Representative from NW Fl during the 90s when Republicans took the House. While being a relatively conservative guy, he is pretty pragmatic and realistic in terms of what it takes to make things work and how both Parties will screw up anything to make political points.
josef
February 27th, 2012
6:52 pm
PAUL
I give Joe his credit for being a conservative voice worthy of listening to and considering. I don’t always agree with him, but I don’t want to slap him either, he’s overall a gentleman…a rarity left or right…
F. Sinkwich
February 27th, 2012
6:52 pm
“Scarborough appears to be a pretty conservative Republican. Interesting you think he appeals only to losers and Obama voters.”
He is a token, kinda like when you lib ilks hire a minority to do something you wouldn’t do if a gun was at your head but it improves your self esteem.
Fred ™
February 27th, 2012
6:53 pm
Paul
February 27th, 2012
6:01 pm
josef
That’s good eating. I’ve done a Bobby Flay version a couple of times, modified it a bit each time.
One of these days I’ll learn to write down my mods!
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Well hurry the hell up and write. I had to google mojo pork since I have never heard of it (or had it obviously) and Bobby’s was the first one that popped up. So now I’m waiting on YOU and YOUR modifications before I can have it. Hurry up, fat boy is hungry.
They BOTH suck
February 27th, 2012
6:54 pm
“He is a token, kinda like when you lib ilks hire a minority to do something you wouldn’t do if a gun was at your head but it improves your self esteem.”
Based on this statement and the make up of Congress in terms of Party and race,,,,,,, Id say the libs must be ahead of old Sink in terms of “self esteem”
Orange12
February 27th, 2012
6:55 pm
Wow, gas remains at $3.65 per gallon for 24 hrs. The Obama admin must have leaped into action to deter any more increases, NOT, prices will continue to increase and will ultimately prove to be Obama’s Achilles heal. Even the far left wingers are not going to be able to spin this as someone else’s fault.